1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cutting devices having a flexible cutting element, and more particularly, to cutting devices having a flexible cutting element with cutting teeth disposed in a complete circle around the periphery of the cutting element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is frequently desirable to have a power driven cutting device which has the ability to produce a cutting action at a distance remotely positioned from the operator of the device.
A manually operated cutting cable including a pair of handles and a plurality of spaced apart, cylindrical cutting elements disposed along a portion thereof is presently manufactured by Green Mountain Plant Products of Norwalk, Connecticut (see page 42 of the April 1978 issue of Popular Mechanics).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 325,364 (Shipe), 2,855,724 (Graves), 3,090,159 (Wimeerly), 3,747,652 (Meadows), and 323,602 (Shipe) disclose manually operating cutting devices fabricated from a plurality of chain links which include a plurality of cutting teeth on a single side of the chain. The chain disclosed in the above-recited patents is deflectable in a single plane and is similar in fabrication to a bicycle chain.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,332 (Dates) discloses a power driven saw which causes a cable having a plurality of cutting elements to rotate in a single direction in order to provide a cutting action.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,175,302 (Sallee), 789,512 (Waller), and 1,520,422 (Lind) disclose chain saw cutting devices having a generally U-shaped frame for supporting the cutting chain and for rotating the cutting chain in a single direction to provice cutting action.